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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll never forget a friend of mine in the 5th<\/sup>\ngrade. His image was that of perfection. The best clothes. The nicest backpack.\nEveryone wanted to be like him. Then came the day I was invited to his house\nafter a soccer game. He didn\u2019t seem wild about that. But his mom was being nice,\nso I went. When I get there, I get the real picture. His dad was verbally\nabusive. The house was rather dirty- like \u201cdirt\u201d dirty. Filth. Not what you\u2019d\nexpect from the golden boy of 5th<\/sup> grade. He seemed miserable and\nembarrassed the entire time I was there. The next day at school, he was\navoiding me but managing to keep up the pretty boy, \u201cgot it all together\u201d\nimage. Even as a 10 yr old, I knew that he wasn\u2019t going to be any less\nmiserable until he sought help. That pretending to be someone he wasn\u2019t was\nonly going to prolong the inevitable. No, I didn\u2019t know what \u201cinevitable\u201d meant\nwhen I was 10. You know what I mean! HA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The various reasons: The primary reason is the need to feel accepted<\/strong>. That need to\nbe a part of something. We can\u2019t let anyone know we don\u2019t have it all together\nor they may not want to hang out with us. They may talk bad about me. I\u2019ve\nalways said that if we knew how little they actually thought or cared about us,\nwe wouldn\u2019t spend so much time worrying about what they think of us. But that\nneed to be accepted is real. And it\u2019s not going away. Also, this need to feel\naccepted is connected to what we put our hope in. Unfortunately, if our hope is\nin something that only lasts for a while, our need to be accepted by that which\nlasts a little while will damage us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The solution here is to seek\nthat which lasts forever<\/strong>. Seek people with that common bond. I know many\nreading this hate church. But this is exactly where you find this common bond.\nYou\u2019re there joined by an eternal purpose. It supersedes everything else. These\npeople aren\u2019t exactly your best friends, but they are there no matter what,\nwhen you\u2019re dealing with a tough issue. That\u2019s because of that eternal\nconnection. The need to feel accepted begins and ends with an attachment to\nyour maker. But this, in itself, creates another problem. Church Faces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is another reason people create images that aren\u2019t true. Fear of someone knowing what they\u2019re really going through<\/strong>. We all tend to put on faces to pretend everything is okay, especially those in church. People in churches put on church faces to pretend everything is just fine when, in reality, it\u2019s not at all. The sooner the church people take off their \u201cchurch faces\u201d, the sooner people outside the church will want to come in. The image you need to create there, is one of acceptance. Yet another difficulty for church people. \u201cI know for a fact that he\u2019s gay. I\u2019m not hugging him.\u201d Or \u201cI saw him doing cocaine in the bathroom at a restaurant last week. I can\u2019t be seen with him.\u201d This has to end. It has to stop. They need to see nothing but love and acceptance and let God do the convicting. But no one will come in if they think you have it all together. They can\u2019t compete or be a part of that. They seek people who have problems like the ones they have. If you take your \u201cchurch face\u201d off, they\u2019ll see that you have issues like them, and they\u2019ll come in and together you\u2019ll work through them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The solution here is to be\nvulnerable<\/strong>. You can only experience the level of love that matches the\nlevel of vulnerability you have. The more vulnerable you are, the more love you\nexperience. In that vulnerability, you find 3 things: 1- there are others\ndealing with what you\u2019re dealing with. 2- it\u2019s ok to be dealing with this\nproblem. You don\u2019t have to keep it a secret. 3- It\u2019s not ok to stay there like\nit\u2019s some private club you\u2019re a part of. Right there, you\u2019ll able to identify\nthe problem, share it with others dealing with the same problem and begin to\nwork on a way out. This can only come if you stop worrying about who knows what\nyou\u2019re really going through. Taking off the church face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I personally believe that church faces have contributed to\nthe rise in suicides among Christian pastors. The enemy has accomplished a few\nthings. He managed to convince the pastor that he needs to pretend everything is\nok. He\u2019s also convinced him that his ministry will be much better off if he\u2019s\nnot in it, especially if someone finds out what he\u2019s dealing with. The enemy\nhas also convinced him that in putting on the church face, in order for no one\nto find out what he\u2019s really dealing with, he must isolate himself. And once\nthe enemy has you isolated, it\u2019s open season. He simply takes aim and fires\nbullets relentlessly. But it started with church faces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, I hate church faces. I hope after reading\nthis, you do too. If you\u2019re in a place where you can\u2019t be you and still be\naccepted, find a new place. There are plenty around. God can only be a part of\nsomething if 2 things exist, Obedience and Love\u2026 in that order. You want to see\npeople\u2019s lives changed? Let them know they\u2019re not alone in their every day\nstruggles. That being a Jesus follower doesn\u2019t mean you rid yourself of issues.\nIt means that you have a new hope that is bigger than the issues you face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stay Classy GP! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Grainger <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We see it on Instagram and Facebook every day. The image is surreal. Utopia. But the reality is damage control and brokenness. We, as a society, spend so much time creating an image that doesn\u2019t represent who we are at all. We do this for various reasons. But, unfortunately, the church is the world\u2019s worst! … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/celebrity-depression-1024x897.jpg\")
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